Irene Garza: the secret of a church that hid a murder for fifty years

The priest who confessed to a crime for 57 years: The murder of Irene Garza A young teacher went to confess on Holy Saturday in McAllen, Texas, and never came out alive from the Sacred Heart church. Her body floated in an irrigation canal days later, but the priest who heard her confession took more than half a century to be convicted - although his guilt was an open secret from the first month. In this episode, we explore how the ecclesiastical institution concealed a murder for decades: the handwritten note that contradicted everything, the inexplicable scratches on the priest's hands, the polygraph that was tampered with, and the pact between the church and the prosecution to exile the killer instead of prosecuting him. A monk from Oklahoma and a lawyer who kept silent for 42 years finally revealed the truth that no one wanted to see. Victim: Irene Garza Date: April 16, 1960 Location: McAllen, Texas Status: Resolved (2017) - The green slide viewer found at the bottom of the canal was recognized by Fight in his own handwritten note as evidence of his presence at the scene. - Irene's clothing was unbuttoned with her underwear missing, indicating sexual assault in a closed location - the soundproof rectory described by monk Tessen. - The scratches on Fight's forearms were photographed by detectives the night of the crime, located on the outer side inconsistent with climbing a fence. - The district attorney informally admitted to lawyer Davis that both he and the church knew of Fight's guilt and had agreed to send him to a monastery in Missouri before any formal charges. Irene Garza, McAllen Texas, 1960, murder, priest, church, killer, investigation, crime without justice, institutional corruption, mystery solved, true crime SpanishTo listen ad-free and access premium episodes, start your 30-day free trial at obomedia.comOBOMEDIA presents true crime storiesa true crime podcast built on real cases.Every true crime story in our crime files follows the crime investigation from the missing person report to the trial: investigators and police building a murder case, a police investigation gone cold, justice for the victim and those who survived.We open the unsolved murder, the cold case reopened decades later, the mysterious death, the disappearance, the serial killer, the family murder, the murder mystery; the missing persons  a missing woman, a missing girl, a missing man found dead and the missing and murdered.From the infamous case to the unsolved case, from classic true crime to dark true crime and disturbing true crime: true crime reports, real crime stories, real murder cases, true murder stories and unsolved mysteries one true crime case at a time, from the OBOMEDIA true crime vault.© 2026 Created with OBOMEDIA technology. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text and related materials) are the property of their respective creator and are distributed under the OBOMEDIA name on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing and business inquirie